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European Commission > Joint Research Centre > Institute for Environment and Sustainability > Land Resource Management Unit

Soil Themes > Soil Erosion > Soil Erodibility in Europe (using LUCAS point survey data)

K-Factor

One key parameter for soil erosion modelling is the soil erodibility, expressed as the K- factor in the commonly used soil erosion model USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation). The K-factor is related to crucial soil factors triggering erosion (organic matter content, soil texture, soil structure, permeability). We calculated soil erodibility using measured soil data, collected during the 2009 LUCAS (Land Use and Cover Area frame Survey) soil survey campaign across the member states of the European Union.

The soil erodibility dataset overcomes the problems of limited data availability for K-factor assessment and presents a high quality resource for modellers who aim at soil erosion estimation on local/regional, national or European scale.

Title: Soil Erodibility in Europe
Description: This map provides a complete picture of the soil erodibility in the European Union member states. It is derived from the LUCAS 2009 point survey exercise.
Spatial coverage: 23 Member States of the European Union where data available (All EU member states except CY, MT, BG, RO).
Pixel size: 10km
Projection: ETRS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area
Temporal coverage: 2009

Input data source: LUCAS point data

Information: Panos Panagos, Luca Montanarella,
European Commission, Institute of Environment and Sustainability,
Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit, Ispra, Italy.

References:
A complete description of the methodogoly and the application in Europe is described in the paper:
Panagos, P., Meusburger, K., Alewell, C., Montanarella, L.
Soil erodibility estimation using LUCAS point survey data of Europe, Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 30, April 2012, Pages 143-145, doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.11.002
Download the article: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.11.002


Data

The Soil Erodibility Dataset is in Raster format. To get access to the data, please compile the online form; instructions will then follow how to download the data .


Soil erodibility

The estimation method of soil erodibility is based on the LUCAS point data. Since the density of points has a variety, we have performed a first assessment of Uncertainty based on the nymber of points in the 10km Grid Cell.


Soil erodibility
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European Commission - Joint Research Centre
Institute for Environment and Sustainability
Contacts:
Marc Van Liedekerke(tel. +39-0332-785179)
Panos Panagos (tel. +39-0332-785574)